given them to defend themselves if attacked. But they have no
right to go and kill or injure anyone doing them no harm. I'll teach you
snakes that in future you cannot quietly crawl about and bite innocent
people thus.'

"So he took a piece of the wampum from one of the strings with which he had
decorated himself, and having carefully carved the hard shells of which
wampum is made, Nanahboozhoo firmly fastened them to the snake's tail, and
said:

"'From this day forward may all snakes like you have those noisy rattles
upon them, so that all people will call you rattlesnakes. And may it be
that you can never move without making a noise with those rattles, so that
people will always be able to hear them and thus get ready to fight you, or
to get out of your way before you can do any harm.'"

"Well done, Nanahboozhoo!" shouted little Sagastao. "He's the one for me.
But why did he not kill all the rattlesnakes at once?"

Souwanas was, however, too clever to be caught trying to answer a question
that, although asked by a child, was beyond his knowledge, so he resorted
to his calumet, and as the smoke of it began to taint the air Sagastao
said, "Well, Souwanas, can you tell us where you Indians first got your
tobacco?"

This question was more to the taste of the old Indian, so while he smoked
he related the tradition of the introduction of tobacco among his people.

"Very many winters ago," said he, "as Nanahboozhoo was traveling on one of
his long journeys he visited a land of great high mountains. One day as he
was passing a great chasm in the mountains he saw some blue smoke slowly
coming up out of it. This excited his curiosity and he went to see what
caused it. As he drew near to it he was very much pleased with its odor. On
further investigation he found that the great cave from which the smoke
arose was inhabited by a giant who was the keeper of tobacco.

"Nanahboozhoo, on searching, found him half asleep in this cave among great
bales and bags of tobacco.

"The smell of the smoke of the tobacco had so pleased Nanahboozhoo that he
asked the giant to give him some. The giant refused in a very surly
fashion, saying that he only gave portions of it away to his friends the
Munedoos, who came once a year to smoke with him.

"Nanahboozhoo, seeing that he was not going to be able to get any by thus
pleading for it, snatched up one of the well-filled tobacco bags, dashed
out with it, and fled away as rapidly as possi